


The Cradle Will Rock

by sksdwrld



Series: Asterisk [16]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Bipolar Disorder, F/M, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Teen Pregnancy, Trichotillomania, mtv
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-17 22:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1404094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie ponders the choices she's made; namely selling her story to MTV and taking a few rock stars along for the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cradle Will Rock

**Author's Note:**

> Matt and Carlos are not mine- used with permission.

Shooting for The Cradle Will Rock was scheduled to start at eight the following morning. The camera crew was going to follow Eddie while she stuck to a limited budget to furnish her nursery with second hand items.

The producers of the show had given her a list of things to find and laughingly told her it would be like a scavenger hunt, but she wasn't allowed to purchase more than two big items from the same place and she had to haggle for lower prices whenever she could. 

In addition, MTV had mailed her a list of topics that they expected her to work into her monologues. How she knew each of the prospective fathers was at the top of the list. Elliot, Matt, and Jarron were easy, but she'd never even met Carlos. When Eddie called the producer to say as much, he'd bluntly replied, "Lie,"and promptly hung up the phone. 

Eddie was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Free rent for a year and ten grand was a good start, but it wasn't enough and she'd be stripping before little Meatball was nine months old if she couldn't turn this mini-series into something more. 

Elliot wasn't talking to her, although that was nothing new. What was more troubling was the tone Matt had used with her on the phone the other day. He wasn't happy with the position she'd put him in and she knew it. But Eddie wasn't sure her apologies would ever be enough. She could lose him before she'd ever even have him, and she wanted him. 

At first, it had been all about his bad-boy image, his good looks, his bloody accent, his money, for fuck's sake. Then, it had been about the chase, because for a self-proclaimed slut, Matt Malone was awfully discriminating when it came to sexual partners. Eddie's ego had taken quite the blow when he'd refuted her and she was determined to make up up for it. 

But somewhere in the midst of it, she realized that he was the first man she'd thrown herself at that not only refused her, but stuck around afterwards. Matt was the only person who meant it when he said that he cared. Even Carey, who'd taken her in when she skipped out on the women's shelter wouldn't give her something for nothing, and certainly not his bed, even though Eddie had complained about the couch bothering her back. But Matt...His momma had raised him right. 

*** 

Eddie grabbed a pudding cup from the refrigerator and wandered into the bedroom where she sat at the set-up vanity she'd picked up from Salvy last week. She had hardly gotten a spoonful to her mouth when her phone started ringing. 

It must be your skin that I'm sinking in, it must be for real 'cause now I can feel... Gavin Rossdale crooned. That was the ringtone she'd assigned Elliot. 

Her heart jumped into her throat and she jabbed the answer key. "Elliot?" 

"I did it. I hope you're happy." His voice was raw. He'd been crying. Of course he had. 

"Did what, baby?" 

"They took my blood...and my soul." Dear God, had he always been this dramatic? Eddie could hardly remember now. 

"What are you talking about, Elliot?" 

"They kept pushing until I...until I broke. They said you'd tell my story if I didn't. And I couldn't bear it. Now they have it. I just thought you should know." 

"Oh, Elly..." Eddie breathed, blinking back tears. "I wouldn't have-" 

"Don't!" Elliot choked back a sob. "I can't...I have to...I have to go. Shit. Fuck. God Damn it... 

The line went dead and Eddie stared at the screen in confused horror. Either staying with rock stars had done wonders for Elliot's delicate sensibilities or something was seriously wrong and she was banking on the latter. 

Elliot was breaking down, Matt was angry with her, Snookie was on the warpath thanks to TV Guide's review (Move over, Snookie! There's a bigger, bladder, sexier bitch in town. ..), she was already being threatened from myriads of musical groupies on Twitter, and they hadn't even started filming yet...This was a great big clusterfuck, and it was all her fault. She reached for her cigarettes and sighed. 

*** 

Eddie fingered a thin lock of hair at the back of her head, feeling it slip silkenly over her skin. She wrapped it twice around her first knuckle. Tug. Tug. She stretched it taut, feeling the prickle of pain in her scalp. It wasn't enough. Tug. Tug. Rip. She ground her teeth against the white-hot flare and ignored the beads of blood that welled up. 

Sighing, Eddie brought the lock of hair around and laid it on the counter next to the other two. She stroked it, then smoothed it into a neat, white-blonde coil. Her fingers itched. Madness was only a breath away. It lurked around her, waiting for an opportunity to sidle in and take over. It was a good thing she'd bought a couple of clip-in hair pieces. A hysterical laugh bubbled out of her and she clamped her lips together, trying to tamp the mania down. 

Then, Eddie reached back again. Slide. Twist. Tug. No, it didn't feel right. She untangled her finger and began again. Slide. Twist. Tug-tug. Rip. There. The anxiousness subsided a little bit as blood trickled down the back of her neck. 

"There was a little girl who had a little curl...right in the middle of her forehead." Eddie said, laying her hair aside and taking a long pull from her burning cigarette before putting it back in the ash tray. "When she was good, she was very, very good." 

Slide. Twist. Tug-tug. Rip.

Eddie glanced in the mirror at herself and scowled at her tear-stained and blood-smeared reflection. "And when she was bad, she was horrid."


End file.
